


Airport

by transpeterparker



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Airport, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coma, F/M, terrorist attack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 10:46:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3131690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transpeterparker/pseuds/transpeterparker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma Swan is trying to put New York behind her as fast as she can, five year-old Henry in tow. Her flight is delayed and she meets a handsome blue-eyed stranger and they get to talking. Hours later he grabs her son and shields them both from a bomb, almost killing himself in the process.</p><p>Now she's stuck at the hospital waiting for her knight in shining armor to wake up from his coma. </p><p>And to top it off, she doesn't even know his name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why I wrote this. I just was daydreaming in class and found my muse.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up." Killian tapped his foot anxiously trying to reach his cousin. "Dammit Ruby!" He hung up and looked at the time. 10:37 p. m. His flight left at 10:41 p. m. He had four minutes to run across an airport to catch his flight, or it would be another day before he could go home to Boston. 

He curses himself internally for waiting till the last minute to pack. He had plenty of time back at the hotel the day after his meeting, but leave it up to Killian to put it off. 

He loosens his necktie and starts running in the direction of his flight. He had to quickly decide between his coffee and his cell phone when he lost his grip, but chose the device, catching it in mid air. He yelled apologies to the people behind him who had to deal with his coffee explosion. He kept running, adjusting the grip on his bag every few seconds.

After almost knocking over two people and a kiosk, he saw the entrance to the plane and started digging in his pockets for his ticket. 

"Hold the door! Hold the door!" He shouted and shoved the ticket at the attendant. 

"Sorry sir, flight 815 has been delayed due to inclement weather. It'll be at least a few hours." The flight attendant told him sweetly.

Killian clenched his fist and sulked over to the waiting area. He chose a spot by the windows so the sounds of the storm could lull him to sleep. He threw his bags down on the seat and sat down next to them. After about five minutes, he was sound asleep, snoring softly. 

His slumber didn't last long, since after 15 minutes, he was awoken to something heavy being dropped in his lap. Killian blinked his eyes open and looked down at his lap and saw a large, brown leather book, with the inscription 'Once Upon A Time' scrawled across. Then he notices the little boy peering over the book with his big brown eyes and mop of dark hair. 

"Henry! Get back here!" He heard a feminine voice call. "I'm so sorry about my son. He's a little too outgoing sometimes." She picks the book out of his lap, and Killian looks up and all he sees is her sparkling emerald eyes staring down at him. He freezes in his seat, unconsciously taking in all of her beauty. The gentle curl of her blonde hair as it sits on he shoulders and stands out like a halo, the soft smile she gives him as she stands there, the brilliant green of her eyes. The man who has her heart is certainly a lucky man, Killian thinks. 

He realizes he's staring and quickly speaks up. "Oh the lad's no issue. No issue at all." He smiles shyly, scratching behind his ear. She smiles back and takes a seat directly across from him. She grabs the boy, Henry, and tries unsuccessfully to sit him down beside her. 

"I'm so sorry that my so bothered you. He really likes to show off that giant book of his." She apologizes again.

"Like I said, everything is all right, love, I was a wee lad once before." He tells her. 

"So, which flight are you waiting on?" She breaks the silence. 

"815, although it just got delayed." He replies. 

"We're on 815 as well. Stupid weather and its awful timing." 

"Well then I guess your stuck with me." 

~•~

Two hours pass, going by quickly because of their mindless chitchat. They talk about simple things, where they're from, why they're where they are, which movies are good. Good old mindless talking. Yet neither of them know each others names. Instead, he refers to her as Swan because of the pendant on her necklace, and she calls him Captain Hook because of his background photo on his phone being the main titles of Peter Pan. 

Henry is still running around like a maniac, and he doesn't understand how a five year old has so much energy at midnight. Swan's playing Candy Crush on her smartphone and Killian can't help but smile when her face shows intense signs of concentration over a phone game. Killian tries to sleep but is rudely awakened by the loud crash of thunder behind him. He sighs to himself and opens his eyes. 

A guy in a red hoodie walks near by and sits down, setting his duffle bag next to him. The man looks around nervously and gets back up. Killian notices and watches him intently. 

The hooded stranger walks away from the bag and pulls out his phone. He dials a number and starts speed walking until he reached a bathroom, ducking inside. A ringing starts to erupt from what seems to be the bag, and the world seems to slow down as Killian realizes what's happening. 

Out of nowhere, Henry runs into his line of site, dragging his little plastic race car across the seats towards the bag. Killian jolts out of his seat, grabbing Henry by the arm and pulling him to him. He runs over to Swan and shields her and Henry. 

She shoves at him. "What the hell?!" She yells at him. 

Before he can reply, a deafening noise goes off and a blast of heat fills the room. He feels pain that can only be described as a thousand needles in his back and his head, then everything goes black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked the last chapter! This one is from Emma's perspective instead of Killian's, it'll probably be like that for a few chapters. Enjoy!
> 
> Italicized words or phrases are used as characters thoughts or to emphasize words

Emma Swan was never one to miss her flight. In the entirety of her life, she never missed a single flight. So her frustration when she arrived at the airport ten minutes before her flight departed, five year-old son in tow, was absolutely expected. She didn't understand how she did it, but she got through security in a record 8 minutes, even though she was dragging her son and three bags of luggage through a crowded airport. 

 

Emma glanced down at her watch and realized she only had 2 minutes to make the sprint from the gate. The blond threw her son over her shoulder, much to his dismay, and lifted the bags off the grounds, dashing towards flight 815 at full speed. Dodging foreigners and retailers, she weaved in and out of the crowd as her son screamed into her ear. She was only a few yards from the entrance, when the flight attendant at the door gave her a pity smile and took a step towards her. 

 

"Hello, ma'am. I'm so sorry but flight 815 has been delayed because of the thunderstorm. We apologize for the inconvenience." The attendant smiled again and Emma gave her what only can be described as a death stare. The woman's smile fell and her face held the look of true fear.

 

Emma set Henry gently on the ground as well as her luggage and clenched her fists. She got inches from the woman's face and exploded into a ten minute rant over the airline and how they could fix the problem. It was a decent conversation between Emma and the woman, save for the explicit language and raised volume on Emma's part. In her rage, she didn't notice the miniature human disappear from her side.

 

The blond finished her ranting and looked down at her side, and noticed the empty space. 

 

_Well, shit._

 

"Henry!" She yelled looking around frantically. "Henry!"

 

She looked over at the waiting area and saw a little mop of brown hair running up to a sleeping stranger and dropping a book on his lap. 

 

"Henry get back here!" She calls and jogs over to him.

 

"I'm so sorry about my son. He's a little too outgoing sometimes." She says softly to the man. He looks up at her and all she can see is blue. It's a magnificent blue, the color of the ocean. She looks at his eyes again and imagines the ocean waves flowing in his irises. Emma pulls her attention away from his eyes and finally sees the beauty of his face. The light ginger tint of his scruff, the ebony black of his hair, how his face perfectly frame the seas which are his eyes. She realizes she's staring and can feel the blush creep onto her cheeks.

 

"Oh the lad's no issue. No issue at all." He smiles shyly, scratching behind his ear.

 

_Oh, and an accent to top it off._

 

She's screwed and she knows it.

 

* * *

 

 Emma feels the flames burn her sides and her face. She tucks Henry tighter into her grip, even though "Hook" is already holding onto them both for dear life. The pain in her arms starts to become unbearable, then the flames retreat and "Hook" falls to the ground. Before she can entirely register what just happened, she's on the ground, trying to shake her savior awake. She can hear people screaming in the distance, people running away, some running towards them to help.

 

Paramedics come and the first hoist her rescuer away and she's left in shock, Henry clinging onto her, tears falling from both of their eyes. A paramedic runs over to them pushing a wheel chair and going to help her up.

 

Emma keeps trying to protest, she's a grown woman, all it is is a few little burns. She doesn't need help, she's perfectly capable herself. She keeps telling herself, but when she tries to stand and ends up falling because of the pain, she finally gets in the chair. The medic sets Henry on her lap and wheels them out to an ambulance, firefighters running in as they leave.

 

"I'm sorry ma'am but you won't be able to ride with your husband in his ambulance." Another man says to her.

 

Emma can't process much at the moment so she just nods in agreement.

* * *

 

 

"So that's the man who saved you and Henry's lives?" Mary Margaret points into the room where "Hook" is sleeping.

 

"Yep. According to the agent who talked to me yesterday, they caught everything on tape. He saw Henry over by the bomb, and protected us both from it. He put him self between the bomb and us, and I don't even know his name." Emma told her, really just repeating it to herself so she knew it was real.

 

"And now because of me, Captain Hook is in a coma with second and third degree burns down his back and pieces of metal and glass shrapnel stuck in his skull, while all I sustained were a few bad burns on my legs and face." Emma sighed, wishing he would just wake up.

 

"Captain Hook?" Her dark-haired best friend asked with a mischievous look on her face.

 

"I was being a hard-ass and I wouldn't tell him my name, so he started calling me 'Swan' because of my necklace, and I called him 'Captain Hook' because of his background on his phone." She explained.

 

"Oh, okay. I gotta go Ems, sorry, Ruby just left my house, her cousin got hurt or something, so David is alone with Henry and Neal right now and I don't know how long he can last with a baby and a small child. Speaking of home, when do you get discharged anyway?" Mary Margaret said.

 

"Oh I could have left this morning, I'm staying here until my knight in shining hospital gowns wakes up from his coma." 

 

Her friend smiled gently at her and left the room. Emma slowly limped into his room and sat next to his bed. She peered at the night stand and saw a manila folder, probably his charts, and picked them up and opened them.

 

_Killian Jones._

 

_Who are you, Killian Jones?_

 

_Why did you save me?_

 

"Killy!" She heard a familiar worried voice and turned her head towards the door. 

 

"Ruby?"

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> idek, just read the damn thing. I can write the story I suck at summaries though

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its like midnight and I'm hopped up on coffee, so I'm writing like crazy.

"Ruby?" Emma stared at the tall brunette, trying to put two and two together.

 

"Emma? How did you know that my cousin was in here? He only just got flown in from New York a few hours ago." Ruby looked just about as confused as Emma.

 

"Wait _cousin?"_  

 

Out of all the people who could have saved her life, it was  _Ruby's cousin._ She stared down at the softly breathing form on the bed. Killian was Ruby's  _cousin._ _  
_

Ruby took another look at Emma and noticed her bandages.

 

"Emma, why are  _you_ in the hospital?" Ruby looked like her head was going to explode.

 

"Well your Killi- cousin... saved my life. We were at the airport and our flight got delayed, and we were talking and the next thing I know, he's grabbing Henry and shielding us from a bomb." Emma felt like she was just repeating what happened to herself. She still couldn't process it though.

 

Ruby just threw her purse on a chair and stomped over to Emma. She pulled the blonde up and into a tight, yet gentle hug.

 

"Emma, are you okay?" She still hadn't let go. Emma used to always be by herself, but as soon as she met Mary Margaret and Ruby, and even David, she felt wanted, needed,  _loved._ She loved her friends so much. She loved them like the family she never had. _  
_

"I'm... fine." Emma lied, not sure if she was trying to convince herself, or Ruby that she was okay. Ruby met her eyes with teary ones. Emma swore that woman could see into your soul.

 

"Emma Ruth Swan, don't you lie to me." 

 

"I'm not okay, okay? Henry was standing right next to the bomb, I was right next to the bomb! Killian, someone I had met an hour before, put himself between us and a bomb. He saved my child. When I felt that bomb go off I had never been so scared." She had broken into tears in the midst of her response, Ruby automatically hugging her impossibly tight.

 

"I'm just so confused." She sobbed into Ruby's shoulder.

* * *

 

Emma sat in the chair, staring blankly at Killian's unconscious face. Ruby had left after staying with Emma for a while. Ruby's fiancee is a doctor at the hospital and he was leaving for home, so Ruby went home, tear stained face from crying over her cousin. Emma sat awake, it being four a.m., and she having an abundance of coffee. She'd called Mary Margaret and David to check on Henry an hour previous. They said he couldn't sleep, kept having nightmares, and then was scared to close his eyes. Emma had cried some more after hearing about her traumatized son. 

 

She still couldn't understand how a stranger, acquaintance at  _most,_ would put his life on the line for her and her son. She couldn't stop thinking about how he grabbed Henry first. He automatically went to save her kid, not caring if he lost his life in the process. 

 

Emma kept remembering how they'd talked about things she'd never told anyone but Ruby and Mary Margaret, like that she was an orphan, how she ran away,  _Neal._ It was so easy telling him things, he would actually  _listen_. He told her about his brother, Liam, his first love, Milah, about them both dying in his arms. She didn't know how he was still alive, how his _soul_ was alive. After Neal, she'd been so broken, so she couldn't imagine how bad losing the only people he cared about felt. She didn't want to know how it felt. 

 

So she sat. And sat. She stayed until morning, left to shower, eat, check on Henry, and then she was back by his side. She vowed to herself that she would stay by his side. He saved her life, it was the least she could do. She sat by his side and she would talk. She'd tell him about herself, Henry, ask him questions she knew he couldn't answer, she'd just talk to him. Some days she would bring in a book and read him stories. She'd bring all the classics  _Romeo and Juliet, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_ (she could tell he was a ocean guy), pretty much everything Jules Verne.

 

A month went by of this pattern, she'd come in every day, bring lunch. Eat and talk with him. She just wished he'd wake up.

 

One day, she'd brought in the Grimms' Brothers Fairy tales and read him some of her favorite stories. Half-way into _Little Snow White_ he reached out and grabbed her hand. She screamed for the doctor, he said it was nothing, so she went home. She kept coming back reading other books to him and smiling when he smiled in his sleep. She longed to see his bright blue eyes. That was the first thing she noticed about him. His beautiful eyes. She wanted to see them again, she missed them. 

 

She came in again a week later, Grimm Fairy Tales in hand. She got to reading one of her favorites, ironically _Briar Rose_ also known as _Sleeping Beauty._ He made a few noises during the stories, but he'd made them before, and nothing happened. 

 

"...at last he came to the tower, and opened the door into the little room where Briar Rose was sleeping. There she lay-" She was cut off by a loud cough coming from the bed. She looked up and saw Killian staring straight at her, blue eyes piercing her soul.

 

"...so beautiful that he could not turn his eyes away; and he stooped down and gave her a kiss. But as soon as he kissed her, Briar Rose opened her eyes and awoke, and looked at him quite sweetly." He finished, voice weak. 

 

Emma stared at him, mouth ajar, mind frozen in time. 

  
"I memorized that story as a boy, as I did most fairy tales. I would tell them to myself whenever I was stuck in a foster home while my brother was gone in the navy."

 

"But... How do you... You heard me?" Emma tried to speak, still in awe.

 

"I could hear you. Only bits and pieces though. I heard a lot of what you talked to me about. Every time I heard you, I'd try to wake up, or at least talk to you. But alas I couldn't wake." He coughed.

 

"And once, I heard you read Snow White and then, I could move my hand. I tried to reach out for something, and then its all blank for a while, until now." He continues.

 

"How long was I asleep? A day, two?"

 

"Try a month." Emma had finally closed her mouth.

 

"...You stayed with me for a month?" He looked at her with light eyes.

 

"Well... yeah. Whenever I could. You saved me and my son it was the least I could-" She was cut-off by Killian sitting up, and pulling her lips to his. She didn't resist, pulling him closer to her, grabbing his gown collar. Their lips fit and moved together in such synchronous that it seemed that they were made for one another. He pulled back and they stared at each other intensely. 

 

Yep, they were definitely falling for eachother.  _And he doesn't even know her name._

 

 


End file.
